Detecting stresses in bicycle components provides useful information for designing the component. Indeed, a constant requirement for manufacturers of bicycles and/or bicycle components, particularly racing bicycles, is to reduce as much as possible the overall weight of the bicycle and of the various components thereof while maintaining, if not even improving, the characteristics of structural strength of such components. In order to do this it is necessary to know the extent of the stresses to which the components are subjected. For example, in the case of rotating components of the bicycle, such as the shaft of the bottom bracket assembly, the crank arm or a component of the bicycle wheel, the torsional deformation of such components can be measured in order to find the extent of the aforementioned stresses.
The detection of the parameters representative of the stresses imparted by the cyclist upon a bicycle component while pedaling also allows the performance of the cyclist to be evaluated and possibly compared. For example, the measurement of the torsional deformation of a rotating component of the bicycle makes it possible to know the power developed by the cyclist while pedaling, and therefore to evaluate his performance.